Questions and Answers

"Teacher, isn't this school a little too concerned about its students?" Ryuen said, nodding his chin toward the surveillance camera at the front of the classroom.

Ryuen's words made Sakagami's eyes light up. There was no doubt that Ryuen had realized something. Sakagami had already guessed what Ryuen intended to do next. It would undoubtedly violate the school rules, but... that didn't matter.

"Why don't you hold off for now?" Sawahara said. "There isn't much time before the opening ceremony, and I don't want our class to make too much of a fool of itself. Besides, I have a few questions I'd like to ask the teacher. Could you let me have the remaining time?"

At Sawahara's words, Ryuen's sharp gaze swept over to him. Sawahara simply met his eyes calmly.

"Hmph. Looks like not everyone in this class is an idiot." A smile appeared on Ryuen's face. There were still some decent pieces on the board, after all. "Let's hear what you have to say."

"What are they even talking about?"

"What's going on?"

Most of the class was completely bewildered. First, some thug-looking guy sitting in the back row had suddenly stood up, and nobody knew what he was up to; then someone had abruptly interrupted him.

As for the girl who had originally tried to lighten the mood, she was now standing there, awkward and at a loss.

Sawahara paid no attention to his classmates' questions. He simply looked calmly at Sakagami.

"You're Sawahara, right?" Sakagami glanced toward where Sawahara was sitting and quickly confirmed his identity.

"You may ask the teacher anything you like, but I can't guarantee I'll be able to answer everything."

"Just as I thought." Sawahara nodded. He had already suspected as much. If the teacher could reveal information, Sakagami wouldn't have needed to make those subtle moves earlier. Still, answers weren't the only way to obtain information.

"For the questions I'm about to ask, if there's one you can't answer, could you respond with 'I don't know'?"

Sakagami looked at Sawahara in surprise, then felt a surge of joy. He'd really found a gem this time.

"I can agree to that."

"Then my first question: are we currently undergoing an evaluation?" Sawahara asked directly.

"W-what!"

"An evaluation? We've never heard anything about that!"

"What exactly..."

Sawahara's words caused an immediate uproar in the class. For students, the things they were most sensitive about were basically twofold: money and exams. Finding out they were undergoing an evaluation without even knowing it was bound to shock them.

Many of them looked toward Sakagami, hoping to hear him deny it. However...

"I don't know." Sakagami hadn't expected Sawahara's first question to be so weighty. His estimation of Sawahara rose another notch.

"Are changes in our Private Points related to the evaluation?" Sawahara continued.

Hearing that question, Sakagami immediately understood that Sawahara's questions were really just guesses he had already more or less confirmed. He was using this opportunity to inform the class.

He's using the teacher's authority to make the information more credible...

"I don't know."

If the class had only been somewhat surprised by the answer to the previous question, nobody could stay calm after this one—except those who had already noticed.

Sawahara glanced around. There was no doubt that the red-haired guy who had spoken earlier had already figured something out. His deskmate seemed to have noticed as well.

"Weren't we supposed to get a hundred thousand points every month?!"

"How can the amount change?!"

"How can they do this?"

"This is outright fraud!"

The class erupted into even louder complaints. It was human nature to hate losing and love gaining. After hearing Sakagami's words earlier, they had probably already started treating the hundred thousand points a month as their own. That was why they were reacting this way now that they'd learned the amount could change.

"Shut up, you idiots." Ryuen propped his legs up on his desk and spoke with a cold laugh. "Sakagami said the points would be deposited on the first of every month. He never said we'd get a hundred thousand every month. A hundred thousand points a month as spending money? You fools should ask yourselves if you're even worth that much."

"What did you just say, you bastard!" In a class with plenty of delinquents, there was no shortage of hotheads. They were already panicking after hearing Sawahara and Sakagami talk, and then Ryuen had gone and mocked them...

A buzz-cut boy sitting in the middle of the third row stood up and glared furiously at Ryuen.

"Heh." That was Ryuen's only response.

It was obvious the two of them were about to come to blows, if not for the next question.

"The evaluation is based on our daily behavior, right? How many points do we lose for fighting? And how much will our points be reduced afterward?"

Sawahara asked calmly. He had more or less guessed what the evaluation was about. It clearly wasn't a written exam or a Sports Festival, and the school had deliberately given them a large number of points. It was obviously an evaluation of their self-control. There was no doubt that their class had little chance of doing well.

"I don't know."

As soon as Sakagami finished speaking, the classroom fell silent. Nobody knew whether speaking at that moment would cost them points. Everyone looked at the buzz-cut boy and the red-haired boy, too.

Ryuen didn't care about the attention around him. He'd never planned to put much effort into Class Points in the first place. He even continued provoking the buzz-cut boy.

Not everyone could withstand those stares, though. The buzz-cut boy clearly couldn't. Sweat beaded on his forehead under the weight of everyone's attention, but he couldn't bring himself to sit down, either. For a moment, he was at a loss.

"You two should sit down for now. You'll be attending the opening ceremony soon, so you might as well save your energy." Sawahara spoke up at the right moment, giving them both a way out.

"I'll let you off this time." The buzz-cut delinquent threatened him even as he seized the opportunity to sit back down quickly.

The girl who had stood up earlier also breathed a sigh of relief and took the chance to sit down, avoiding any further awkwardness.

"One last question: not everyone will have the right to choose their own career, correct?" Sawahara sounded utterly certain, despite phrasing it as a question.

At that, everyone in the class turned their eyes to Sakagami.

"Phew, Sawahara, your questions are really putting me on the spot. For a moment there, I thought I'd have to answer every one with 'I don't know.'" Sakagami let out a long breath. Honestly, Sawahara's questions had put him under a lot of pressure, because his actions had, in fact, crossed the line a little.

Teachers weren't allowed to reveal anything about the evaluation. During the first month, they also had to keep the school's rules as secret as possible if the students hadn't figured them out.

Although Sakagami had answered "I don't know" earlier, his actions had been repeatedly skirting the line.

It was like a teacher deliberately highlighting key points before an exam—arguably even worse, since it practically amounted to revealing the answers.

But this last question didn't count as a violation. Sawahara had figured out this rule himself, so the teacher was allowed to explain it to the students.

"The school won't guarantee every student a job. That privilege belongs only to Class A."

And so, on the very first day of school, the students of Class C were struck like a bolt from the blue.